flyfishexpert
Adventurist
Yellowstone in Winter
by Krista Johnston
Winter in Yellowstone is not for the faint of heart or for the coldblooded. We arrived at the North Entrance on a Friday in late February and were excited to spend a long weekend driving between Gardiner, MT and the Lamar Valley area to photograph wildlife. The North Entrance to the Park is the only one open to passenger vehicles during winter. The poor folks that live in Cooke City, MT, at the Northeast Entrance to Yellowstone, must travel through the Park in winter to leave town as the only other road leaving town, the Beartooth Highway, shuts down for winter weather until Memorial Day.
Once in the Park we saw the requisite elk, antelope, and bison just inside the entrance. For the most part, those people visiting the Park in the winter are frequent Yellowstone visitors in pursuit of lesser seen animals, so we were fortunate to have the park mostly to ourselves. It was quiet, sometimes you wouldn't see another vehicle for 15 or 20 minutes; that never happens any other time of year! Our first stop was where a few vehicles were congregated alongside the road at the “S-curve” just below the Blacktail cross-country skiing trail. Folks were out with their spotting scopes glassing for wolves that were about two or three miles away. The wolf watchers mentioned the pack of at least five had been closer to our location the previous day, but at two plus miles away the wolves, when visible, were just dots in the nice Bushnell binoculars I was using.
You can read about the rest of our winter adventure by visiting our webiste, www.LivingOverland.com, or clicking here.
by Krista Johnston
Winter in Yellowstone is not for the faint of heart or for the coldblooded. We arrived at the North Entrance on a Friday in late February and were excited to spend a long weekend driving between Gardiner, MT and the Lamar Valley area to photograph wildlife. The North Entrance to the Park is the only one open to passenger vehicles during winter. The poor folks that live in Cooke City, MT, at the Northeast Entrance to Yellowstone, must travel through the Park in winter to leave town as the only other road leaving town, the Beartooth Highway, shuts down for winter weather until Memorial Day.
Once in the Park we saw the requisite elk, antelope, and bison just inside the entrance. For the most part, those people visiting the Park in the winter are frequent Yellowstone visitors in pursuit of lesser seen animals, so we were fortunate to have the park mostly to ourselves. It was quiet, sometimes you wouldn't see another vehicle for 15 or 20 minutes; that never happens any other time of year! Our first stop was where a few vehicles were congregated alongside the road at the “S-curve” just below the Blacktail cross-country skiing trail. Folks were out with their spotting scopes glassing for wolves that were about two or three miles away. The wolf watchers mentioned the pack of at least five had been closer to our location the previous day, but at two plus miles away the wolves, when visible, were just dots in the nice Bushnell binoculars I was using.
You can read about the rest of our winter adventure by visiting our webiste, www.LivingOverland.com, or clicking here.
